Word Origin & History

strange late 13c., "from elsewhere, foreign, unknown, unfamiliar," from O.Fr. estrange (Fr. étrange) "foreign, alien," from L. extraneus "foreign, external," from extra "outside of" (see extra). Sense of "queer, surprising" is attested from late 14c. Stranger, attested from late 14c., never picked up the secondary sense of the adj. As a form of address to an unknown person, it is recorded from 1817, Amer.Eng. rural colloq. Meaning "one who has stopped visiting" is recorded from 1530.

Example Sentences for strange

There's really no other way to experience its strange and exotic cuisine.

Last night, this strange frog was sitting on my patio.

The strange tortoise's shell is flat underneath and not rounded at the belly as usual, he says.

The eternal golden braid emerges as a strange loop.

As strange as carbonated milk sounds, it's not unprecedented.

The small warehouse is a mad workshop of strange dreams.

Peppered around lava flats and mountaintops all over the moon are strange sinuous shapes known as lunar swirls.

But a look across the field reveals a strange emptiness.

Many other strange creatures turn out to be familiar faces in disguise.